"Look but don't touch" is the message ordinarily transmitted, either silently or explicitly, in museums and gallery spaces.

But Oakland artist Margaret Lawless has been exploring a different way of looking at and interacting with art within those pristine white walls, with her "Aid to Contemplation" pieces. The small, smooth clay sculptures are meant to be handled and maybe even fondled as you gaze at, say, works from her "Action Painting" series - pieces of paper she folded and attached to the bottom of her shoes while she walked through parts of Oakland and San Francisco.

The former body of work relies on action of a keenly subtle sort.

"Usually when people walk around a museum or gallery, they hold their hands behind their back," says Lawless, who is working on a master's of fine arts at Mills College. "I want the viewer to have a more complete experience when viewing the art, not only a visual experience but also a tactile experience.

"It critiques the art institution - in this case, you have to touch the art in order to not touch the other art."

MACLA Associate Director Monica Ramirez-Montagut, who co-juried the awards with SOMArts Cultural Center Gallery Director Justin Hoover, notes that installations such as "Retro Future City" by Li Ma made a strong impression during the selection process, as did paintings like "Lil Tio, Lil Soldado, Lil Primo, Crime Partner" by Alexa Bargas and photographs such as "Debt Portrait #1" by San Francisco State student Brittany M. Powell, who began her series on people in debt after filing for bankruptcy herself last year.

In "Debt Portrait #1," a young sitter sits with her eyes closed, at a school desk in a sun-drenched room. "The photographs are beautiful on their own," says Ramirez-Montagut. "But when you read the story behind them, it's such an incredible statement on contemporary culture and where youth are today."

For her part, Ramirez-Montagut valued the process of surveying more than 100 MFA students and getting a glimpse of the zeitgeist. "It's funny because we're in a position of power, jurying, but for us, it's very advantageous," she says. "It updates us. So it works both ways. We're finding out what's relevant."